Notice2023-26619
Notice of Intent To Repatriate Cultural Items: Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History, Los Angeles, CA
Primary source
Metadata and text below are from the Federal Register, a public-domain U.S. government work. Always verify the official published version before relying on it for any legal matter.
Published
December 5, 2023
Issuing agencies
Interior DepartmentNational Park Service
Abstract
In accordance with the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History (LACMNH) intends to repatriate certain cultural items that meet the definition of unassociated funerary objects and certain cultural items that meet the definition of objects of cultural patrimony, and that have a cultural affiliation with the Indian Tribes or Native Hawaiian organizations in this notice. The cultural items were removed from Orange and Los Angeles Counties, CA.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 88 Issue 232 (Tuesday, December 5, 2023)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 232 (Tuesday, December 5, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 84350-84351]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2023-26619]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
National Park Service
[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0037014; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]
Notice of Intent To Repatriate Cultural Items: Los Angeles County
Museum of Natural History, Los Angeles, CA
AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Native American Graves Protection and
Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural
History (LACMNH) intends to repatriate certain cultural items that meet
the definition of unassociated funerary objects and certain cultural
items that meet the definition of objects of cultural patrimony, and
that have a cultural affiliation with the Indian Tribes or Native
Hawaiian organizations in this notice. The cultural items were removed
from Orange and Los Angeles Counties, CA.
DATES: Repatriation of the cultural items in this notice may occur on
or after January 4, 2024.
ADDRESSES: Amy E. Gusick, NAGPRA Officer, Los Angeles County Museum of
Natural History, 900 Exposition Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90007,
telephone (213) 763-3370, email <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#d2b3b5a7a1bbb1b992bcbabffcbda0b5"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="08696f7d7b616b634866606526677a6f">[email protected]</span></a>.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This notice is published as part of the
National Park Service's administrative responsibilities under NAGPRA.
The determinations in this notice are the sole responsibility of the
LACMNH. The National Park Service is not responsible for the
determinations in this notice. Additional information on the
determinations in this notice, including the results of consultation,
can be found in the summary or related records held by the LACMNH.
[[Page 84351]]
Description
At various times, 226 objects of cultural patrimony were removed
from Laguna Beach in Orange County, CA. In 1935, A.D. Griffin found one
object (a digging tool) at an unidentified site in Laguna Beach.
Subsequently, this item was donated to LACMNH. At a date prior to 1971,
Carl D. Hegner collected one object (a donut-shaped stone) from an
unidentified site in Laguna Beach, and in 1971, the Native Daughters of
the Golden West donated this item to LACMNH. At a date prior to 1966,
University of Southern California professor W.J. Wallace excavated 201
objects from Cameo Cove in Laguna Beach. These items were transferred
to the Laboratory of Anthropology of the Hancock Foundation (Hancock
Foundation), a now-disbanded museum that was once part of the
University of Southern California. On February 1, 1966, the Hancock
Foundation loaned these items to LACMNH, and on March 29, 1983, the
loan was converted to a donation. At one or more dates prior to 1966,
23 cultural items were removed from unidentified sites in Laguna Beach
and transferred to the Hancock Foundation. On February 1, 1966, the
Hancock Foundation loaned these items to LACMNH, and on March 29, 1983,
the loan was converted to a donation. The 226 objects of cultural
patrimony are one bead, four cobble tools, five cores, one donut-shaped
stone, 90 faunal bones or bone fragments, six fire affected stones, 15
flaked stones, two groundstone fragments, one hammerstone, seven manos
or mano fragments, one grooved maul, five metates or metate fragments,
two ochre fragments, one mortar, two pestle fragments, eight rocks, one
scraper, 73 stones, and one unidentified lithic tool.
In 1954, University of Southern California professor W.J. Wallace
excavated 22 associated funerary objects at the Los Altos site (LAN-
270) in Long Beach, Los Angeles County, CA. These items were
transferred to the Hancock Foundation, and in 1983, the Hancock
Foundation donated them to LACMNH. The 22 unassociated funerary objects
are three rattles, two bone tubes, one shell, one bead, two stones,
four containers or container fragments, six tools, two projectile
points, and one faunal bone.
Cultural Affiliation
The cultural items in this notice are connected to one or more
identifiable earlier groups, tribes, peoples, or cultures. There is a
relationship of shared group identity between the identifiable earlier
groups, tribes, peoples, or cultures and one or more Indian Tribes or
Native Hawaiian organizations. The following types of information were
used to reasonably trace the relationship: anthropological,
archeological, historical, oral traditional, and Indigenous knowledge.
The Acjachemen Nation, Gabrieleno Tribes, and Tongva Tribes
(``People of the Earth'') have strong cultural ties to the Laguna Beach
and Long Beach coastlines. In particular, Puvungna, located on the
California State University, Long Beach campus, is a site sacred to the
Gabrieleno, Tongva, and Acjachemen as being associated with their
Creation account and Tribal history, and is the locus of annual
pilgrimages by them. The Luise[ntilde]o people, which include the
Pechanga Band of Indians, share cultural practices and beliefs with the
Gabrieleno, Tongva, and Acjachemen, and all four groups are
linguistically related.
Determinations
Pursuant to NAGPRA and its implementing regulations, and after
consultation with the appropriate Indian Tribes and Native Hawaiian
organizations, the LACMNH has determined that:
<bullet> The 22 cultural items described above are reasonably
believed to have been placed with or near individual human remains at
the time of death or later as part of the death rite or ceremony and
are believed, by a preponderance of the evidence, to have been removed
from a specific burial site of a Native American individual.
<bullet> The 226 cultural items described above have ongoing
historical, traditional, or cultural importance central to the Native
American group or culture itself, rather than property owned by an
individual.
<bullet> There is a relationship of shared group identity that can
be reasonably traced between the cultural items and the Pechanga Band
of Indians (Previously listed as Pechanga Band of Luiseno Mission
Indians of the Pechanga Reservation, California).
Requests for Repatriation
Additional, written requests for repatriation of the cultural items
in this notice must be sent to the Responsible Official identified in
ADDRESSES. Requests for repatriation may be submitted by any lineal
descendant, Indian Tribe, or Native Hawaiian organization not
identified in this notice who shows, by a preponderance of the
evidence, that the requestor is a lineal descendant or a culturally
affiliated Indian Tribe or Native Hawaiian organization.
Repatriation of the cultural items in this notice to a requestor
may occur on or after January 4, 2024. If competing requests for
repatriation are received, the LACMNH must determine the most
appropriate requestor prior to repatriation. Requests for joint
repatriation of the cultural items are considered a single request and
not competing requests. The LACMNH is responsible for sending a copy of
this notice to the Indian Tribe identified in this notice.
Authority: Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act,
25 U.S.C. 3003, and the implementing regulations, 43 CFR 10.8, 10.10,
and 10.14.
Dated: November 28, 2023.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2023-26619 Filed 12-4-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4312-52-P
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